American reporter slain in Syria while reporting for UK paper honored with human rights award

LONDON – An American journalist killed in Syria while reporting for a British newspaper has been honored with a human rights award.

The 56-year-old Marie Colvin was killed Feb. 22 when Syrian army shelling struck the building that served as a makeshift media center in Homs. She was reporting for the Sunday Times of London.

Colvin was named Friday as this year's recipient of the Anna Politkovskaya Award for dedicating her life to reporting from nearly every major conflict in recent history. The award, named after a murdered Russian journalist, is given annually by group RAW in WAR to a female human rights defender standing up for victims in a conflict zone.

RAW in WAR says Colvin "lived a life of courage and truth-telling in the face of grave danger."